Page 32 of Shattered Love

My concerned gaze met his and he realized what I was about to stay, getting to his feet unsteadily.

“If you give blood right now, you might pass out,” I told him, but he only shook his head.

“Am I going to die?” He asked and I told him no.

He sat beside the bed, holding out his arm. “Then let’s do it.”

I knew better than to argue with him. This whole bunch was much too stubborn. Finding another bag, I took down the fluids, setting up the contraption to take blood from Murphy and flow into Aiden. Then I approached Murphy with the IV needle.

Bending down until we were face to face, I gripped his arm under my clammy hands. “Are you sure?”

He brought his other hand up and cupped my cheek. “I’ll do anything for family.”

I bit back more tears at his words. How simple it was to him. Aiden was my family. But so were the others in this room. Which made him just as important to Murphy.

Biting my lip, I stuck the needle into Murphy’s arm, watching as the blood began pooling down the tube, filling up the bag that would give Aiden the chance to survive.

Standing back up, I grabbed the scalpel, ready to cut into my brother. Staring at the blood, I called to Rainer.

He looked longingly at the door, not wanting to leave us unprotected, but Sasha took his spot. Once he was beside me, his eyes bouncing between Murphy and me, I told him and Warner, “You need to hold him down.”

Both their eyes widened, these two tough men looking queasy at the idea. “I have no anesthesia. He’s going to wake up and he’s going to thrash. You need to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Both of them nodded. Warner took Aiden’s upper body, resting his hands over Aiden’s arms. Rainer took the bottom half, gripping his legs and holding him immobile.

Gripping the skin of Aiden’s thigh, I set the scalpel against his thigh, years of studying running through my head. I prayed to whoever would listen that I wouldn’t nick the femoral artery and I cut. And then Aiden screamed.

I finished retrieving the bullet and stitching Aiden up in an hour. Both he and Murphy had passed out, one from the pain and the other from the lack of blood. Aiden was now resting while I gave Murphy fluids, hoping that would help.

Sasha had a superficial wound along her hairline from a stray bullet and I stitched that up as well, cleaning the area to avoid infection.

Once Aiden had passed out, Warner and Rainer had gone downstairs to barricade the main entrance and check to make sure Vex was still passed out. That had been nearly thirty minutes ago, and they were now back up in the room.

Exhausting poured out of me as I slumped against the wall. But pride swelled in my chest. Maybe this was my salvation. I had taken a life, but now I had also saved one. Although, the thought didn’t help much as I thought of the bodies littered downstairs. Were our lives really important than theirs?

A hand touched my arm, my entire body flinching. But the touch didn’t leave, Warner’s dark eyes piercing me. “Follow me.”

I quirked a tired brow, but he gave no more of an explanation, waiting until I was on my feet and then nodding to Rainer. “Figure out a plan to get us all out of here. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Rainer’s eyes narrowed, his lips pursed as he wanted to ask where we were going, but he never did. He knew he wouldn’t get any answers out of Warner, just as I knew.

I followed Warner downstairs, my body sluggish, wondering what the hell he wanted to do now. We didn’t stop on the main floor, Warner leading me to the basement.

My steps still faltered, still haunted by the memories. But Warner gripped my hand, pulling me down the stairs until we entered the room where I had been tortured. The two chairs were back inside, Vex tied to the one I had sat in too many times.

His eyes were wide open, glaring at me. I took a step back, fear coursing through my veins, but Warner’s chest was there, halting my movements.

His hand found mine, but it wasn’t his touch that was there, it was cool metal. I recognized the weight in my palm. My fingers clasped around the gun.

“Are you here to kill me?” Vex spat, spit flying from his mouth.

I swallowed. “I should. You would have killed us all.”

He laughed maniacally. “As if it would have mattered. You know as well as I do that you’ll be dead before the year’s end.”

So the information was accurate. I had trusted the writing; I had trusted Emmanuel, but I still had hoped that it wasn’t the case. Maybe I never would fully shed the naivety that the world wasn’t unfair in its cruelty.

“And you? Were you going to be dead?” Maybe it was silly to expect that he would give us any answers. But it was worth the shot.

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